This Is My Family

NOTE: This is a bonus episode of This Is My Family. We return for your regularly scheduled programming on Wednesday with the FINAL episode of the season! 

Today, we’re proud to share a podcast recommendation with you from a former guest of This Is My Family! Sam Walker was a guest this season and we’re excited to share her podcast, Sam Walker’s Desert Diaries! 

Sam Walker’s Desert Dairies is a narrative podcast that follows her famil...

This week, we welcome Kathy Tu to the show. 

Kathy is a beloved podcaster (Nancy, New York Times Opinion) who Tyler knows from his time working in public radio in Chicago.

In this conversation, Kathy opens up about growing up somewhat distant from her parents which in turn caused her to become closer to her friends. She tells us how she came out to her mother and how it wasn’t received well. She also goes on to reflect on her relatio...

TW: Miscarriages and cancer

This week, we welcome Sam Walker to the show.?

Sam is a broadcaster, podcaster, and presenter who worked for the BBC for 15+ years and now runs her own audio business.?

In our conversation, she talks about growing up with her parents and how they did everything they could to support her education even though they had little means.

She also reflects on her experience of going through multiple miscarriages...

This week, we welcome Craig Minowa to the show. 

Craig is an environmental scientist and musician who launched “Cloud Cult” in 1995 as a solo project after the passing of his son.

In this episode, he talks about how his family is navigating the pandemic on their family farm. He also reflects on the unexplained passing of his son, Kaidin, who was only 2 years when he died suddenly in his sleep, and how he and his wife grieved in diffe...

This week, we welcome Christopher Hamblin to the show. 

Christopher Hamblin is a musician, host and personal executive assistant to his husband Timothy Wilcots, better known as Latrice Royale. 

Christopher talks to us about his life growing up, struggling with his sexuality in a Christian household and how his grandmother was the rock of his life. He opens up about his relationship with the church and how he found his love for mu...

NOTE: This is a bonus episode of This Is My Family. We return for your regularly scheduled programming on Monday with a brand new episode.

Today, we’re proud to share a podcast recommendation with you from a former guest of This Is My Family! Latrice Royale was one of our favorite stories from our last season - and so when we had the opportunity to spread the love of HER podcast, we took the opportunity. 

Do yourself a favor and chec...

This week, we welcome Helen Hong to the show. 

Helen is a versatile comedian, actor and podcast host based in LA. 

She opens up about her evolving relationship with her parents, which was somewhat distant as a kid but now during the pandemic has strengthened in profound ways. She shares how she helped her father connect with his past by way of a YouTube channel and a special gift from his childhood.

Helen also talks about the beautifu...

This week, we welcome Benjamin Putnam to the show. 

Benjamin is a drag queen, burlesque performer, and actor who goes by the stage name BenDeLaCreme. 

Ben joins Tyler and opens up about acknowledging his queerness at a very young age, his mother supporting him through that process and her passing due to cancer. They also talk candidly about Ben’s relationship with his father, who supported him and tried to make life easier by sending...

This week, we welcome Annalise Raziq to the show. 

Annalise is a Chicago-based storyteller, actor, musician, peace activist and mother. 

She joins Tyler to talk about growing up in a divorced family surrounded by various forms of mental illness and how she turned that tumultuous upbringing around in order to raise an empathetic and loving daughter. In this candid conversation, Annalise opens up about the complicated bond she formed w...

This week, we welcome Emilie Modaff to the show.

Emilie and Tyler start their conversation by digging into the finer points of addiction and what that means for the many relationships in Emilie's life. Hear them candidly talk about a more inclusive idea of love and relationships, including the families that result from addiction recovery groups. Emilie is also polyamorous and the two dig into the finer details of what that means...

This week, we welcome Danielle Badra to the show.

Danielle was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently resides in Virginia. She is the author of “Dialogue with the dead," a collection of poems in which she responds to the recovered poems of her deceased sister. 

She joins Tyler to talk about the difficulty of losing our loved ones and how creativity can build a bridge to connect with them once they’ve left us. In a r...

This week, we welcome J. Ivy to the show.

Born and raised in Chicago, J. Ivy is an award winning poet, recording artist, songwriter, actor and author who's collaborated with hip-hop icons like Kanye West and Jay Z.  

With Tyler, J. talks about growing up in Chicago and dealing with  generational trauma, as well as the struggles associated with  his parents' divorce. He also brings to life the people that saw and nurtured his ...

This week, we talk to Arionne Nettles,  a journalist, professor and mother to a special needs son.

Arionne was born and raised in Chicago and spent her college days at the famed Florida A&M University (FAMU). In college, she gave birth to her son Jackson who was later diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis, causing him to have various developmental disabilities. After college, Arionne moved back to Chicago where she now lives with Ja...

This week, Tyler talks to Lindz Amer, creator of Queer Kid Stuff, a web series focused on LGBTQ+ and social justice education for kids of ALL ages.

Lindz talks about growing up and not quite having the tools, support or media content to understand what they were going through and how that prompted them to create Queer Kid Stuff. They also open up about their own coming out process and the family they dream of for themselves in t...

Our guest this week is Corey Mitchell, the first-ever winner of the Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education. He shares his origin story with Tyler - about his family and those that supported his own upbringing - as well as how he supports his students today by playing dual roles as an educator and surrogate parent. Corey also opens up about how the pandemic has forced a deep examination of what his life looks like now.

About ...

With this episode, we hope to calm your nerves wherever or whenever you might be listening. We've got Sharon Salzberg, a legendary Buddhist meditation expert that Tyler's been digitally learning from for years.

Sharon tells us how trauma she experienced within her family of origin eventually set her on a path of learning and teaching Buddhism. The practices she's learned along the way have helped her (and those she's...

In this episode, Tyler speaks with Shereen Marisol Meraji, co-host extraordinaire of NPR's "Code Switch."

Shereen was born into an Iranian and Puerto Rican household. We discuss how her parents' relationship to their respective cultures shaped the ways in which she and her brother formed their identities. We also talk about her powerful bond with her father, despite not knowing as much as she'd like about his cul...

On today's episode, we’re talking drag, drag queens and the families they make. We are honored to welcome to the #TIMFShow microphone, one of the most famous drag queens in the world...star of RuPaul's Drag Race and more...LATRICE ROYALE!

In this episode, Latrice talks about growing up in Compton, loving her mother deeply, being forced out of the closet at a young age and running away to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, which wasn'...

“Family” means something different to everyone. This year especially, you might be leaning on them like never before... or not. In this show, we navigate the beautifully messy terrain of building a life with loved ones. And we’ve got some very special guests to help us out.

To start us off, we hear from our host Tyler Greene and his husband Ziwu Zhou. Two gay men reared in two distinct cultures, who married and navigated the challen...